Zarya
Zarya is a Ranged Warrior Hero from the Overwatch universe. Until January 4, 2017, Zarya could be obtained for free via the Nexus Challenge. Aleksandra Zaryanova is one of the world's strongest women and was a promising athlete, but all that changed when the Siberian omnium reawakened. As a soldier in the Russian Defense Force, she now proudly uses her strength to protect the ones she loves. Zarya is a bruiser that can enable deadly allies and is good at preventing burst damage. Background Aleksandra was born in a remote Siberian village that was on the front lines of the Omnic Crisis, which began some thirty years ago. Although Russian forces defeated the robots and shut down their omnium, the region was devastated by the conflict. Only a child at the time, Aleksandra was surrounded by the post-war destruction, and as she grew older, she swore that she would gain the strength to help her people recover.From the Overwatch wiki Gameplay Summary Zarya is a Warrior who plays the role of a Bruiser and a Support at the same time. She is unique as she is capable of shielding both herself and her allies, and any damage absorbed by her shields contributes to her energy meter to increase her damage output. Overall, Zarya fits well in a double Warrior composition, as long the other Warrior is a dedicated tank. She excels against teams that feature multiple burst-oriented Heroes. Strengths *Does not use mana, and instead uses . **Energy is filled up by absorbing damage with and . **Zarya's damage output is proportional to her current Energy. *Very supportive playstyle that gives her a powerful teamfight presence. *Flexible talent tree, allowing her to specialize into either support or damage. * is a very effective poking tool, and holds multiple charges. **It can become very powerful when Zarya is at full Energy, if talented into. * can single handedly define the outcome of teamfights. * has very low cooldown for a Heroic Ability, and it is great for defending objectives. Weaknesses *Highly dependent on her Energy in order to deal damage. *Poor early gameplay and a lack of peeling or crowd control until level 10. *No mobility. *Susceptible to crowd control. *Not ineffective against mobile Heroes. *Skilled players can play around her shields and deny her Energy gains. * has a small delay, and is easy to avoid. Abilities Traits Heroic Abilities Talents Tier 1, Hero Level 1 Tier 2, Hero Level 4 Tier 3, Hero Level 7 Tier 4, Hero Level 10 Tier 5, Hero Level 13 Tier 6, Hero Level 16 Tier 7, Hero Level 20 Talent Builds *Energy Build: focused on maximizing the effectiveness of Zarya's build-up, adding a good blend of damage and survivability. This build aims on keeping Zarya always above the threshold specified by her two key talents, and to greatly increase her damage output. **This build is recommended for most situations. *Particle Grenade Build: focused on improving the damage and cooldown reduction of Zarya's , allowing Zarya to deal consistent high damage and poke opponents more often. **This build is recommended when the team lacks an additional source of damage. However, it is not recommended when fighting a very mobile team composition, as it makes harder to hit with Particle Grenade. *Basic Attack Build: focused on improving Zarya's Basic Attack damage. The key talents are and , increasing Zarya's damage and radius, respectively. **This build is recommended when fighting a team composed mostly by Melee Heroes. Tips *Don't be afraid to cast and purposedly soak damage from enemy structures in order to gain quick Energy. *Try to anticipate damage to get the best of Personal Barrier and . *Positioning is key when using Zarya's Basic Attack, as it pierces all enemies in a line for 100% damage. Use this to quickly clear minion waves and Mercenary Camps. *Use when the enemy team is at a vulnerable state (such as casting an ability) or afflicted by another form of crowd control. *Use to trap opponents on choke points. Matchups Pairings Also another great shield target for Zarya due to his propensity to dive into the enemy team. Zarya also pairs nicely with him because they shore up the other’s weaknesses as a solo-Warrior (Zarya lacks disables and Anub'arak has lower Health). While she can't contribute as effectively as other characters while under the effects of , Zarya synergies with Auriel are almost perfect; both characters use their own resources other than mana, meaning they can keep their presence in the battlefield with high effectiveness, and don't need to visit Health Fountains in order to regain the fuel for their abilities. Zarya can shield Auriel and fuel her own power, which in turn converts into for Auriel's . The only flaws of this pairing are the lack of mobility and reliable crowd control, as Auriel requires to hit enemies against walls when using and Zarya's Heroics both have high cooldown. Zarya’s shields are great for allowing Genji to get into the enemy team’s backline and trade effectively. When Genji engages a squishy Assassin, enemy teams may overreact while trying to quickly eliminate him; in turn, a well-timed shield from Zarya not only can instantly fill her energy should Genji becomes swarmed by his enemies, but can also be the difference between the quick death of Genji, or that of the enemy team. Illidan loves dive partners, and Zarya adds the extra tankiness that Illidan love. Since he thrives on aggressiveness, he makes a great shield target, as he can dive deeper and give Zarya a ton of energy in the process. Similar to Tassadar, Zarya pairs well with Lúcio in that she can negate enemy burst damage. Heroes who work well in multi-Warrior compositions also pair well with Lúcio, as they are tough enough to survive enemy burst damage while also providing a strong front line for Lúcio to hide behind. Zarya helps shore up one of Malfurion’s biggest weaknesses: dealing with burst damage. Malfurion’s heals over time will continue to renew everyone’s Health behind the safety of a shields, making the whole team very hard to kill. Effective against Effective foes Zarya’s lack of disables from the Warrior position makes her team have a difficult time consistently interrupting Chen’s . In addition, Chen can easily capitalize Zarya's poor movement with , or simply by body-blocking her. While Zarya’s shielding is great against predictable burst damage, she struggles against damage-over-time and area of effect damage. In addition, Zarya doesn’t have the lockdown necessary to really punish the fast moving Lunara. Malthael truly shines when fighting opponents with high health, namely Warriors. Since Zarya has poor movement speed and lacks any form of crowd control outside of her Heroic Abilities, she is an easy target for . Zagara’s pushing potential gives Zarya a hard time, as she can’t consistently get high energy to allow her to adequately clear the waves pushing into her base. Skins ;Defender of Russia (base) ;High Gravity :The Tobelstein Reactor is an emergent technology, and its full potential has yet to be tapped. Rumor has it that the Gravitic Harness is the next great advancement in energy projection. ;Cyberdemon :Reverse engineered from Overwatch's cyberization techniques, the Jigoku battle armor offers most of the benefits of cybernetic augmentation without requiring invasive surgery. :Features altered voice-over and themed abilities. ;Thunder Guard :Armed with their Mjolnir Cannons, Zarya Aleksdottir and the Thunder Guard serve as the Midgard megalopolis' last defense against the Jotunheim Republic and their frost golem army. :This skin is related to the Midgard themed-skins. Features themed abilities. ;Phantom Knight :''The Black Knights have served as the mercenary protectors of Raven Court since age immemorial. It is only natural that their commander, Zarya, the Phantom Knight, serves as one of the four generals of the Raven Lord's army. Trivia * The "Cyborgdemon" variant of her "Cyberdemon" skin makes a reference to Genji, in both color scheme and name. References Patch changes * * * * * * * * * * Category:Warrior Category:Heroes Category:Human